


Coffee's waiting

by SheMalfoy13



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-19 16:17:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18138056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheMalfoy13/pseuds/SheMalfoy13
Summary: He’d always thought Lin was graceful. Working at the Force under her, he’d been mesmerized by her movements more than he’d cared to admit, caught by the knowing glance of a partner in more than one occasion. But now, after everything; Amon, her retirement, the trip to the royal city of Caldera, well- Mako didn’t think he could ever admire her more.





	Coffee's waiting

Mako felt her stir in his arms, a smile instantly tugging at his lips, buried deep in her hair, tickling his nose. He was quick to drop it though, schooling his features before she’d even turned to look at him. Out of Lin’s insane early morning habits, this had to be one he waited for. He could feel her gaze on him for a moment, her cool fingers brushed some hair away from his forehead, and the swell of his heart in response. His calm mask almost slipped from his face. His injured hand on her hip threatened to act out as well, and he was sure it had even warmed a smidge. But she made no attempt to wake him, and Mako knew this new routine now, and he liked to give her the space to go about it alone, unless she asked otherwise.

Lin slipped from the bed swiftly, the silky sheets barely making a noise as she slid out from between them. Mako let his fingers follow her skin until she was out of reach, and they were left with the amazing sensation of  _ her _ . With his eyes carefully closed, and keeping the rise and fall of his chest even, he heard her go about the room.

Ever careful of his rest, she opened and closed drawers softly, making her way to the ensuite, and then out after a couple of minutes. Mako had always thought Lin’s silent movements were aided by her bending, willing the metal of her armor to comply. But as it was now, he’d learned that she was just unusually nimble. So it was not until he heard the kitchen tap running, and then the door to the patio being opened, that he dared open his eyes. 

He rolled over in bed, gradually blinking into full consciousness, eyes trained on the high wooden ceiling. His fingers played with the sheets in the spot she’d been. It was still warm, and Mako waited until all trace of her was gone, before getting up, and following her steps.

The faint glow of dawn, filtering through the window blinds, was enough to guide Mako through the room. He dressed slowly, gaze sweeping over a flash of gold over black, safely tucked at the back of the closet. A bittersweet sigh got stuck in his throat, but he swallowed it, taking to the kitchen to get breakfast going. The calmness of the early morning, all the way on the mountainside, was a striking contrast with how their mornings used to be when he stayed at Lin’s apartment in the boisterous city.

When Lin first took him to see the house- Mako had yet to come to terms with the fact that she claimed it was  _ theirs _ \- the first thing he noticed was the wood; the evident absence of stone, and a sharp pang of understanding had passed through his chest. He’d refrained from commenting on it of course, and moved to inspect the place instead, following her around, hearing her speak enthusiastically about how it was perfect. He’d never heard her refer to something as perfect before, he’d yet to hear her do so again.

It was. It was a lovely house in the outskirts of the city, built in a modernized version of the Fire Nation style. It fit the two of them comfortably, plus a guest room that hosted someone from time to time. Bolin and his girlfriend often, her nephew and his husband a little less than that. What Mako liked the most, though, was the patio. The amount of green surrounding the house, framed by the mountainside: the pond, the towering trees, their own, small training field, and watching her in the middle of it.

To Mako, if the house had Lin in it, then it was perfect.

He checked on the cooking rice, put out the fire, and poured himself a mug of coffee. Past the living area, and through a set of sliding double doors, was the patio. And Lin. He walked in silence to lean against one of the gallery columns, elbows tight to his sides, and sipping slowly the hot beverage, he watched her move under the rising sun. Her hair still shone silver, but her once fair skin was now faintly sunkissed from her early morning training routine.

He’d always thought Lin was graceful. Working at the Force under her, he’d been mesmerized by her movements more than he’d cared to admit, caught by the knowing glance of a partner in more than one occasion. But now, after everything; Amon, her retirement, the trip to the royal city of Caldera, well- Mako didn’t think he could ever admire her more.

He figured to any other person, what Lin had shared with him that morning over a year back would’ve sounded like madness. As it was, Mako had spent enough time with Korra, and a season living at Air Temple Island too, to understand that bending abilities had a temper of their own. He’d been there when Korra’s airbending was awakened, after Amon tore the rest of her elements away. And even if Lin had not developed a new one by any means, she claimed that with the loss of earthbending, something in her blood had stirred. The firebending blood had started to call to her, and she’d responded the best way she knew: training. 

She’d been hesitant to express the idea, but he’d just kissed her, and told her it made perfect sense, and they had since awoken together with the sun. Sometimes he joined her, but most mornings he let her go about it alone; working on breakfast, cleaning, revising some paper or another from work, and slipping out before she finished up to admire her.

Mako watched her flowing movements, muscles flexing and stretching with practiced ease, small beads of sweat gathering down her neck and arms. Lin practiced the movements with the same focus she put in earthbending, never mind that she didn’t have either of the two. 

It was most strange, to be able to remain  _ hidden _ from her like this after years of her skills spotting people in the distance without needing to turn around. Mako felt he was intruding more often than not, never mind that she’d assured him it was okay, never mind that it had been her, the one in a small elite of people capable of detecting others in that way.

But even as he felt unwarranted guilt- for watching her when she couldn’t know, the bending she’d never gotten back, and the other person that he now called Chief- there was still one advantage to her lack of seismic sense. That Mako could now surprise her. And he took advantage of that particular aspect plenty. Especially as she leaned over their kitchen island, and he hugged her by the waist, kissed her neck, and earned an exquisite gasp in return.

So it was that newly discovered intoxicating feeling of surprising her, what prompted Mako to put a flame on her hand that day.

Lin was finishing up her sequence- Mako knew it by heart know- and he shifted on his feet, changing the mug to his left hand while focusing on his bending. He watched her move, followed her left hand as she closed the figure, extending her arm to the side, palm up. It wasn’t an easy feat, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever concentrated so much on his breathing or heat as much as that moment. But he managed it.

There was a moment of pause, as Lin stared at the orange flame flickering in her hand. Her chest rose and fell once, twice. It stilled. 

“Mako, what-” Her voice was a whisper, and when she turned, surprise danced in the emerald of her eyes, and curled her lips upwards in the most innocent of smiles he’d ever seen in her.  _ Spirits _ . That alone had been worth ten times every second the strain of projecting the fire into her hand.

Mako smiled with her, because how could he not? His eyes took in everything that was  _ Lin _ in this moment, committed to memory. Lin examined the flame a moment longer, the fingers of her free hand testing the air around it. She turned to him once more, and this time he recognised the face; the left corner of her lips tugging in a smirk, and a manicured eyebrow raising, the perfect picture of a woman who knew it all, except how much she made his blood boil.

Happiness took ahold of him; the flame extinguished with Mako’s leaping pulse. In two seconds she was right in front of him, kissing the air out of his lungs. It took a moment longer to regain his balance, but his arms snaked around her waist automatically, the mug a hair away of ending up on the ground. Mako’s tongue licked over her lower lip, and Lin bit it with a chuckle. He joined her in it. He couldn’t help the way emotions took over his body when he was with her.

“That was so lovely, Mako.” She breathed to his jaw, the kiss broken once they ran out of air. He buried himself in her hair. With his eyes closed, the smell of her perfume, mixed with the sweat of her training, the coffee- he could pretend they were together at Headquarters again. That they had stayed late once more, that she was his Chief still, that she had her bending- “Thank you.”

“ _ You _ are, Lin. Thank you.” His voice was a bit hoarse in his throat. Mako pulled away softly, thumb running over her scars. She was still perfect, he thought. She’d been broken far beyond what most people would bear, and she was still standing. She was still fighting. He laced his fingers with her, and tugged her inside. “Come, the rice must be ready, and there’s coffee waiting.”


End file.
